Highlights
- Final Fantasy 16 may be launching on PC soon, as a recent Nvidia driver update revealed game-ready optimizations.
- The highly-anticipated JRPG has achieved commercial success, selling over 3 million copies worldwide.
- Producer Naoki Yoshida confirmed that the PC version of Final Fantasy 16 is in its final stages of optimization.
A recent Nvidia driver update may have prematurely revealed that Final Fantasy 16 is set to launch on PC imminently. Although it's been common knowledge for some time that developer Square Enix is working on a PC port of Final Fantasy 16, its exact release window has been up in the air.
Final Fantasy 16 originally launched in June 2023 as a timed PlayStation 5 exclusive. The highly-anticipated JRPG accrued mostly positive reviews and impressed many fans with its high-caliber graphics and kaiju-esque Eikon battles. The good news kept on coming with its commercial performance too, as Final Fantasy 16 achieved the highest sales debut for a PS5 game in Japan and went on to sell over 3 million copies worldwide. There was some consternation over Final Fantasy 16's total sales numbers as Square Enix reported losses in the following quarters, but the company claims that it is satisfied with the game.
Back in September 2023, Square Enix confirmed that Final Fantasy 16's PC version was in development, but didn't commit to a release window at the time. It was widely assumed that the game would land on PC sometime after June 2024 due to the PS5 exclusivity agreement, and now that it's over, it seems the PC release of Final Fantasy 16 could happen imminently. Reddit user m_w_h recently discovered a game-ready driver profile for Final Fantasy 16 in Nvidia's latest 560.81 GPU driver update. These optimizations are usually carried out when a game is ready to go, which suggests Final Fantasy 16's PC release is very near.
Latest Nvidia PC Driver Update Has Hidden Optimizations for Final Fantasy 16
Even though Square Enix was bound by the PS5 timed exclusivity contract, Final Fantasy 16's developers have been quite open about the PC port's progress. Producer Naoki Yoshida confirmed that Final Fantasy 16's PC version was in the final stages of optimization back in March 2024, so it doesn't come as much of a surprise that it would be ready for release by now. Yoshida also revealed that a playable demo for Final Fantasy 16 on PC is in the planning stages, but with the entire PC port seemingly finished already, Square Enix may just opt to launch the game outright.
Additionally, Yoshida confirmed features like ultra-wide support, unlocked framerates over 100fps, dedicated mouse and keyboard controls, revamped code for better performance, and more, which should all make for a pretty special PC port for Final Fantasy 16.
OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Rating:88/100 Critics Recommend:92% Franchise Final Fantasy Platform(s) PS5 Released June 22, 2023 Developer(s) Square Enix Publisher(s) Square Enix ESRB M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence How Long To Beat 36 Hours PS Plus Availability N/A Expand
